Oh, make no mistake, I don't think Hussar is anywhere near unacceptable in general. I might still run it in addition to Oracle. I just don't think it makes very much sense to run the worse version first just because it works better for balancing sections of the least used cards in your Cube anyway. And agreed completely, I think this problem goes all the way to the top.
I also think Delver is kinda bad, but its fail case is a bit better (and it helps that it's a little more iconic). Honestly, I kind of want to make Augur work for me- it just feels so good when it works. It's just not that often.
Those are good sacrifice suggestions, thank you! I think the big question mark for me is what the best sacrificers are and if they feel too out-of-place when drafted with the rest of the Cube, and how many was appropriate. Narrowing it to Husk, which I think there are 4 variants of, helps a lot.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My 450 Card Pauper Cube is going through major renovations. Feedback appreciated!
Those are good sacrifice suggestions, thank you! I think the big question mark for me is what the best sacrificers are and if they feel too out-of-place when drafted with the rest of the Cube, and how many was appropriate. Narrowing it to Husk, which I think there are 4 variants of, helps a lot.
Dash Hopes gives you opponent the choice what it does, thats never a good thing. It always does what the opponent hurts less, besides I dont see an archetype that really wants that effect.
Checking your cube Armor seems borderline ok for the amount of enchantments you run. The goblin tribal doesnt work though, trust me Ive tried it ^^ You barely got enough playable goblins together, even if you force it in draft. And the amount of horrible goblins you (need to) run doesnt help there.
The problem comes when your definition of "fun" comes to a place where player draft to win. They will just ignore all those cards and you basically wasted precious cube space for junk. You might end as the only one playing those (and lose)
Dont feel yourself cornered though, you came to a place with experienced paupercubers and we are pretty tight when it comes to card quality, even though a bunch of us like the durdle games, the cards must be good.
Half the fun is playtesting it and readjusting it yourself. When I came here back then I also didnt follow any advices and did my own thing. But a lot of the advices I got turned out right
Here you can see what I started with in 2013: http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/4832
goblins tribal, sliver tribal,elf tribal, mill? bring it on All my hopes and dreams got crushed after I drafted it ^^
In the end, some cards that were considered bad became staple of my cube though, so it was worth it.
Hi folks, I'm looking for feedback on my cube, which is intended to be "good stuff": http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/130011 I based many picks on powered cubes from this forum's users, and used the Evaluate Everything project to find cards. I might be missing some new commons from 2018.
Some general questions to get the conversation started:
Multicolor support: The cube has bounce-lands and signets. In people's experience, is that enough support for two-color decks, or should I add Khans lands? (The cube has an average CMC of 2.7, so I thought having a land enter tapped can be an issue.)added land
General build: Besides the bounce-lands and signets, it has 5 other lands, 15 artifacts, 3 cards per guild, and 58 cards per color. Would you change that build? If I were to cut 1 or 2 cards per color, what categories would you replace them with (land, artifact, guild)?added land
Removal: I might have too much removal (the way I count it, I have 82 cards or an as-fan of 3.4, whereas some favourite sets (Innistrad, KTK, RTR) have an as-fan of at most 2.7, which would be 64 cards.) Is it too much? If so, what 18 cards would replace the worst removal?all good
Hexproof: Without originally intending to support it, I added light support for the hexproof archetype. Are there enough deathtouch creatures and "sacrifice" spells to respond to it?all good
Curve: I think the curve is fine (note that I haven't edited CubeTutor to use the "real" cost of cards with Phyrexian mana, Affinity, Ninjutsu, etc.), but let me know if not!all good
Questions about specific cards:
How do people feel about Desert? The cube has no land destruction, but I don't think it's so powered that it needs an answer.kept Desert
Without intending to, I have about 20 white Soldier/Knight creatures. Is that enough to include War Falcon and Veteran Swordsmith?removed Falcon
Potential cuts: The following cards appear in only one other powered cube, but I included them. If you think any are a bad pick, what would you add instead?
Potential additions: The following cards appear in at least 5 powered cubes, but I didn't include them. If you think any should be added, what would you remove?
A Ulamog's Crusher (5/8 cubes) cost seems too high to be relevant
B Carrion Feeder (6/8 cubes) can't block, and seems to need archetype support
About the red cards you're not running -- War Marshal, Gearcrafter, Beetleback -- they all have the common theme of making tokens so they're basically part of a larger question you have to ask of your Cube I think.
About the red cards you're not running -- War Marshal, Gearcrafter, Beetleback -- they all have the common theme of making tokens so they're basically part of a larger question you have to ask of your Cube I think.
Good question. Is going wide with 1/1s strong enough on its own, or would I need to add more support for tokens (instants like the included Rally the Peasants, or enchantments that are anthems, etc.)? I can see the 1/1 Flying tokens as easier to include without support.
Desert is one of those "paper pauper" cards. If that doesn't bother you then it's a fine pick. Desert just makes any 1/x into a *****ty 2/x sort of, Oasis does the same for toughness.
It's just okay. All it does is ping a Bird token every once and a while. I haven't had any issue with it being particularly dominant or unfun and it's a card I don't normally get to play with because it's not actually Pauper legal so it's fresh and exciting to me. If I had more 1/1's in my cube Desert and Oasis would be better picks.
Hexproof is cancer. I thought that Shroud was fixed Hexproof and was genuinely surprised that Wizards considers Hexproof to be fixed Shroud and stopped printing Shroud cards. I feel like the whole purpose of a cube is to play interactive Magic, which Hexproof explicitly prevents.
First, mallory, thanks for the tip! That's a good frame of reference, even if he is a little all-in on it for my taste.
Second, it seems like a lot of the decisions you're making for your cube gently push players towards mono or mostly colored play. My examples there would be the relatively low amount of fixing (I personally support adding the Khans lands because I think most Cubes should run more fixing than they do, but this might be a difference between 450 and 360) and your various questions that appear to favor stronger color commitment. In my mind, the difference between Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood are night and day, because Night's Whisper can go in most decks that have Black while Sign pushes much more towards mono or mostly black. I don't think this is a problem at all, but I think it's a preference that comes through and that is worth acknowledging. I think this becomes more and more of a problem the earlier a desirable play happens. For instance, Leonin Skyhunter wants to come down on Turn 2. This is much, much harder at WW than it is at 1W, unless your deck is mono- or mostly White.
I think you're probably running too much removal, because that's just kind of the curse of Pauper cube. I'm in the glassest house and can't throw stones there! I think in general, if you're considering cutting a removal spell, you probably just should- by that logic, I strongly support cutting Lash Out and most of the other removal on your list of potential cuts. With that said, I also do think the more removal-heavy environment is one of Pauper Cube's charms (my Commander is Toshiro Umezawa, I like killing creatures), so a higher-than-normal AS-FAN is probably OK and even desirable.
And SaltMaster, I think Ebony Horse is kind of neat. It's kind of a counter for interaction- if you make a block that you realize you regret, you can just pretend that you didn't do it. I think there's seem neat possible play there, although it may run counter to the feel that you're going for.
@mallory496:
Multicolor: I've been happy with 2 nonbasics per color. Tapped lands are not that much of an issue, but trying to support more than 2 colors without fixing surely is. The gain lands also have something, that differentiates them from the other lands.
General build: I would simply add more lands.
Removal: I think your removal Count is fine.
Hexproof: My impression was, that not all decks actually need to answer hexproof. Hexproof creatures are below curve and you can beat them by playing more mana efficient creatures and simply race them. Especially the Swarm decks have shown to be crushing the aura/hexproof decks pretty hard.
Desert is really strong, but there are ways around like either trying not to play too many X/1s or going so wide with tokens, that killing one of them doesn't matter.
Charger/Pegasus are way better than the WW guys. There is simply no way to guarantee WW on turn two and the value loss of not being able to play them on turn 2, especially in a low land aggro deck, is a huge downside.
The problem with the soldiers is, that only about half of your creatures are white, which means, that unless you specifically focus on picking them there are only about 1/4 soldiers, which is not enough, IMO.
Run Amok: Red doesn't need, nor want combat tricks, IMO. There is a huge amount of playable burn spells, that are mostly superior, IMO.
Keldon Raider/Keldon Berserker: I don't think red aggressive decks need 4 drops and I would rather play more powerful cards, rather than mediocre ones.
Lash Out is certainly playable, but I think there are better options. The aggressive red decks that are interested in this usually have a low curve so you usually only win if you have a spell and your opponent has a land, because your spell will often cost less than theirs.
Deprive is a card I've played for a long time, but control decks really don't want to miss land drops and the downside simply hurts them too much. The XU counters are usually just better.
I don't like the Exalted creatures, because they are really bad when you don't want to attack with just one creature. They also work really badly with my Swarm theme.
Grasping Scoundrel is basically a black Jungle Lion, which is still a fine card, but green simply has way more powerful options nowadays, while black has by far the weakest creatures. Compared to the average powerlevel of black creatures it's a good 1-drop. Other than the Lion it can also block X/1s. You can cut Divest for it. Divest only most likely only deals with creatures, which is a card type black has problems dealing with anyway. Different than removal discard is a terrible topdeck against a hellbent opponent.
Dauthi Marauder: The toughness doesn't really matter, since it doesn't interact in combat, but 3 unblockable power for 3 mana is a great deal and makes this actually way better in the offense than something like Shu Cavalry. Being fragile and kind of all in is ok for a hyper aggressive black card. You can cut Skittering Horror is an easy cut, IMO.
Snuff Out: Compare this to Dismember, which is a very powerful removal. The difference is, that Snuff Out costs 1 less and kills a creature regardless of size. Skittering Skirge or Paralyze are easy cuts, IMO.
Man, I was really worried that Al was kaput for good thanks to the Great MTGSal Deletion of 2019. Most of his stuff lines up with what I was gonna say. Just pretend I said it again so you know it's not a one-off
I just removed Leonin Skyhunter for the same reasons. IMO, this + Silverbeak Griffin should really only be run if you already run both Pegasi + Soltari Trooper and need more evasion. This would probably only be for larger cubes at this point. If we eventually get a common white devotion card on the same level as Gray Merchant of Asphodel, these guys could get a new lease on life. But I feel safe in saying that, for 360 to 450 at least, they're pretty much dead.
RE: red pump - pretty much only if you want to deliberately kneecap red at this point. There's too much burn to really want to play a more restrictive removal that occasionally doubles as creature protection.
Deprive I like as a landfall enabler and for larger cubes like mine, but even there blue spells are stacked. I'm ok with countermagic having a slight premium attached to it by having a bit less of it. (y'all might find this weird, but I find the trinket text on Rune Snag in a singleton format really cumbersome, and if I had to add another countermagic slot, Quench would be in serious contention against Deprive).
Also fun to see someone else try to be slightly more statistical about their inclusions. I've done the exact same notation for how many cubes run which cards, yet somehow I'm still over the limit because cuts are hard lol.
As for other cuts:
Paralyze! Soft removal in a color full of hard removal.
Everything else in that list of potential cuts I like too much to recommend cuts. You can take a look at my list in my sig and see which ones I don't run if that helps your decision-making
Anyway, this will be my last post for the foreseeable future. I'll be going on hiatus from the forums for many reasons, mainly for my mental health, diminishing returns from discussion here, and now the Great Deletion of 2019 that just invalidated years (decades?) of work.
Multicolor: I've been happy with 2 nonbasics per color. Tapped lands are not that much of an issue, but trying to support more than 2 colors without fixing surely is. The gain lands also have something, that differentiates them from the other lands.
Running 2 sets of duals (bounce and lifelands) is pretty much the standard. I only run 1 set and the signets, because tapped lands are pretty bad in aggro and there are quite a few cards that care for basic lands. Kird Ape, Fireblast and so on
Hexproof: My impression was, that not all decks actually need to answer hexproof. Hexproof creatures are below curve and you can beat them by playing more mana efficient creatures and simply race them. Especially the Swarm decks have shown to be crushing the aura/hexproof decks pretty hard.
Depends on the amount of hexproof. First turn Bogle into 2 turn Winds is above curve and will race you. If you only run the finisher like Benthic Giant I agree.
Desert is really strong, but there are ways around like either trying not to play too many X/1s or going so wide with tokens, that killing one of them doesn't matter.
Desert is pretty bonkers and is one of the cards that warps the whole meta. In addition with some other x/1 hoser like Serrated Arrows it renders a lot of those pretty weak. Its funny to hear its not pauper legal, because we are playing paper here and I consider the online commons not being legal.
Charger/Pegasus are way better than the WW guys. There is simply no way to guarantee WW on turn two and the value loss of not being able to play them on turn 2, especially in a low land aggro deck, is a huge downside.
Which ones are better is determined by the question how many x/1 answers your cube run. See above. With some amount of pinger in my cube, the 2/2s are much better and monowhite is usually the best way to build the aggro deck anyway.
The problem with the soldiers is, that only about half of your creatures are white, which means, that unless you specifically focus on picking them there are only about 1/4 soldiers, which is not enough, IMO.
I run them since I support mono/heavy white and a lot of them are soldiers. 3/2 for 3 is not the worst aggrocard anyway and the falcon usually dont need a build around, because basically everything is either knight or soldier.
Run Amok: Red doesn't need, nor want combat tricks, IMO. There is a huge amount of playable burn spells, that are mostly superior, IMO.
I run it, because combat tricks are much stronger in aggrodecks than burn. Especially if they give trample. Burn is too slow and too reactive. Attacking all in every turn and trample through any blocker will deal more damage faster and also kills stuff that has higher toughness. It can also save you guy from removal. Its probably only an inclusion if you want to support turbo aggro.
Keldon Raider/Keldon Berserker: I don't think red aggressive decks need 4 drops and I would rather play more powerful cards, rather than mediocre ones.
I dont think CC4 for a 5/3 is mediocre. Its pretty much as good as it gets, besides Gorehorn Minotaurs. It doesnt usually hurt to have some curve topper. The problem comes with double R, since thats often a problem in fast decks. Thats why although I think the Raider are also better than mediocre theyre better played with some additional synergies like madness.
Lash Out is certainly playable, but I think there are better options. The aggressive red decks that are interested in this usually have a low curve so you usually only win if you have a spell and your opponent has a land, because your spell will often cost less than theirs.
Considering the average deck runs 17 lands and aggro 15-16 I didnt made the math on it, but it burns for additional 3 often enough to make it a fantastic card. Its also a burnspell with a twist, so more interesting than the next plain bolt and often enough you want to kill a creature anyway. Definitely better than Volcanic Hammer
Deprive is a card I've played for a long time, but control decks really don't want to miss land drops and the downside simply hurts them too much. The XU counters are usually just better.
yeah, pretty meh card
I don't like the Exalted creatures, because they are really bad when you don't want to attack with just one creature. They also work really badly with my Swarm theme.
Exalted is pretty bonkers but indeed, you either want exalted or swarm. Exalted has the strong upside that it allows you to attack into blockers that would usually roadblock (Augur of Bolas anyone ;))
If red wouldnt have Fireslinger already Id consider running it. As is Izzet can do more with spells.
Grasping Scoundrel is basically a black Jungle Lion, which is still a fine card, but green simply has way more powerful options nowadays, while black has by far the weakest creatures. Compared to the average powerlevel of black creatures it's a good 1-drop. Other than the Lion it can also block X/1s. You can cut Divest for it. Divest only most likely only deals with creatures, which is a card type black has problems dealing with anyway. Different than removal discard is a terrible topdeck against a hellbent opponent.
not a big fan. x/1 *coughs* A fine addition for a black aggro archetype though
Dauthi Marauder: The toughness doesn't really matter, since it doesn't interact in combat, but 3 unblockable power for 3 mana is a great deal and makes this actually way better in the offense than something like Shu Cavalry. Being fragile and kind of all in is ok for a hyper aggressive black card. You can cut Skittering Horror is an easy cut, IMO.
x/1, but races quite fast if unchecked. Probably one of the cards that demand a certain amount of x/1 hosers to not be broken. Skittering Horror is a RB removal.dec card
Snuff Out: Compare this to Dismember, which is a very powerful removal. The difference is, that Snuff Out costs 1 less and kills a creature regardless of size. Skittering Skirge or Paralyze are easy cuts, IMO.
I did run Snuff for a while and it turned out to be a horrible card in my T1. Against aggro its either too slow to cast or doesnt help at all because you burn yourself for 4. Its better in aggro to remove a blocker for free, so basically it comes back to black aggro support or not. I dedicated my Black mostly to control, because its the only color able to and has all the roleplayer with pestilence and so on. No need to turn every color into aggro WRG are better for it anyway.
What are the thoughts on the Panoramas from Shards of Alara? I run these over the bouncelands and it freed up an additional 5 spots.
It makes drafting early on a little easier because you can choose from 3 colors. I've noticed they don't sit in packs as long as bounce lands for colors no one is in.
And what are the thoughts on including some of the 10 banned Pauper cards? I like novelty cards, and banned cards are a novelty.
Cloud of Fairies and Peregrine Drake are reasonable cards, especially in my cube since I don't play Ghostly Flicker.
Frantic Search and Treasure Cruise are good cantrips.
I put Empty the Warren in for Goblins. Too much?
Invigorate seems reasonable without any Hexproof creatures in my cube. I only have one Infect creature too.
I don't have too many artifacts, so I feel Cranial Plating is reasonable.
Is Temporal Fissure too unfun? Blue has a bunch of freebie spells and cantrips, so I didn't include it because it could get out of hand.
Burn in my cube seems just fine as-is, so I don't think Grapeshot is a good idea.
none of us cares whats going on in pauper constructed and im not even interested in the online only commons. there are no set regulations on cube building, its up to everyone himself. Al does even run a rarecard in his which is quite a stretch, but usually as long as its somwhere in the realm of common its accepted. Although Id never consider a cube pauper that runs the common-sheet hack.
That said, pretty much all those cards are only strong in either constructed or with the right amount of support. Since you dont support them and anyways have you own definition of fun its pretty much useless to comment on them.
Freeing up Slots is not that important, IMO. You always end up with too many playables anyway, so a few lands that haven't been picked don't matter. Panoramas are just miles worse than any tapped land.
None of the banned cards are in any way too good for cube. They are only banned because their constructive archetype was too good. Go ahead and run them.
Peregrine Drake is a really nice control card. It's way better than something like Sentinels of Glen Elendra for that matter, because you can just slam it, no matter if you counter something or not.
Frantic Search is not a good card on it's own. It's one of the most broken combo enabler in pauper, but without any combos to enable it's just worse than Faithless Looting.
Treasure Cruise is strong, but fair. You simply don't have that many enablers or Fetches to abuse Delve.
I dont understand how ppl like the Drake without the combo. The Sentinels are mediocre at best and Drake comes down at minimum a turn later, but getting to 5 lands usually takes even longer. 2/3 is not a good statline on T4 or T5, even when the creature comes "for free" "Every" random 2 drop trades into it
It feels so bad to cast it just for the body, Id never run it for itself.
Cloud of Faeries also does nothing. The card is worth a spirit token.
ETW is fine as soon as you get another spell down the turn and becomes quite impressive with 2 spells which is relatively easy. Its more of a midrange/control finisher than an aggrocard.
Invigorate looks nice on paper. Counter a toughness based removal for free. In reality I see it more often just cast for 3, which is okayish, but there would be better cards. Ill replace it at one point for sure. Green anyway is my most volatile color, not quite sure what to do with it. Turboaggro shifted way deeper into red, Ramp usually lacks value, Fatties are too fragile and pushing for all hexproof doesnt make it much better. It doesnt have good spells besides Sprout Swarm, no real removal.. The color is just too fair.
Why is Frantic Search not good? You get to see 3 new cards for zero mana. This is why I'm hesitant to put Temporal Fissure in blue, because blue has enough support to make wiping your opponent's mana base or board 5-10 turns in feasible.
Grapeshot for similar reasons. I already gave them Goblin Grenade which is pushing it, but I can imagine a red player sitting on all his burn spells and getting a ton of extra value off Grapeshot. Or drafting both Empty the Warrens and Grapeshot and going to town.
Filling the graveyard for delve even without cards dedicated to that purpose isn't very difficult and you can cast it a few turns in. I don't have a whole lot of issue with cantrips/card draw being OP because ultimately it doesn't matter unless you draw powerful cards with them. They're just the support for potential shenanigans, not the shenanigans themselves.
Invigorate I see as sort of fair. Early game you can make a wumbo creature and surprise your opponent and get ahead on board. I considered Monstrify too.
Unless you are turbo aggro the games tend to become attrition games, meaning in the end the player with more ressources will win. Frantic Search doesnt help aggro and does exactly nothing, so you are down a card now.
Fissure can kinda work, but usually is just worse than any of the spells that can bounce 2 things. But how can one be so opposed to the Drake combo but wants to support storm. Storm pretty much is the epitome of non-interactive anti-magic.
To Grapeshot become better than Volcanic Hammer, you already had to cast another 2 spells this turn. You you jump through some hoops for 4 damage and had to play suboptimal.
Treasure Cruise is pretty strong, but doesnt do as much as it does in constructed, basically because you only run one anyway and the decks are far more random.
Given your specific interests, I would strongly advise against Temporal Fissure. The rest are probably all fine, although the other Blue cards give me the most pause. I just don't think that there is any way that card is good enough to warrant inclusion that isn't also pretty combo-y and actively unfun and uninteractive for at least one of your players.
In a similar vein, but not as much, I think Storm in general seems like a bad fit for your interests. Grapeshot is probably the most interesting, since it can create a one-sided wrath but you have to really work for it, but they are not all that strong in Cube and when they are strong they are usually pretty busted and not particularly fun. However, both provide more opportunity for interaction than Fissure.
I run Peregrine Drake without the combo, although I am kind of considering adding the combo as well. I like it- without the combo, it's a decent creature that works with control strategies (which it seems might be a good fit for you). Similarly, I think Invigorate without Infect is a really good fit for your interests- an off-beat form of interaction that creates interesting game play.
Frantic Search is bad because it's basically a cantrip, but one that produces card disadvantage unless you have serious graveyard or discard synergies. It's pretty great in Ultimate Masters, a set that I really enjoy playing, so if you enjoy UMA drafts and feel like your Cube has a lot of similar synergies (or you want more), it's a fine inclusion. It definitely has a problem, though, where in order for it to be good, it tends to be pretty busted and unfun. So it might take more development work to support than you're looking for.
Treasure Cruise is one of my favorite cards ever printed. I strongly, strongly support its inclusion. It's not only powerful, it feels so good to cast it. It doesn't even have a corresponding feels-bad for your opponent.
Plating is mostly just not worth it. It's not particularly fun or strong unless you warp your Cube to support it. At its best, it's good because it makes it impossible for your opponent to block its damage. Given how similar creature size is in Cube, and the relatively low number of artifacts, it's closer to just forcing your opponent to make some blocks they might not otherwise make. If you like artifact synergy, though, it's fine, and hard to make busted.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My 450 Card Pauper Cube is going through major renovations. Feedback appreciated!
Yeah, I agree about Temporal Fissure. Either it's just a 4 mana Boomerang or it's unfun. It's the same reason why I took out Silhana Ledgewalker and Land Destruction from the original version of the cube.
Either it's a mediocre or even dead card, or you actually drafted enough of the pieces for it and it's not interactive. Either way it's not fun.
Cranial Plating I figured would just be another copy of Bone Splitter. Since I have Razor, Spire, Tangle, and Dross Golem along with Porcelain Legionnaire and Vault Skirge and Pith Driller and Flayer Husk and Sickleslicer, it shouldn't be too hard to make it +2 or +3. Sometimes Bonesplitter or Flayer Husk or Guardian Idol or even Vault Skirge are mid-late pack picks so this might make artifacts more desirable.
Peregrine Drake is basically just Spire Golem except a little less color restrictive. It's a solid pick even without Flicker and it doesn't stay in a pack for very long if someone is in blue. When I played the bounce lands it would often cost negative mana.
Cloud of Faeries I agree is just meh without Flicker. I took it out but if I had Faerie tribal I'd put it back in. It's okay.
I'm open to cutting more cards that were mentioned (Lash Out, Keldon Berserker, or any other cards people don't think contribute to a powered cube), but I'm not sure what to replace them with.
If red wouldnt have Fireslinger already Id consider running it. As is Izzet can do more with spells.
I have Fire // Ice in my red section, because in my UMA experience it's rarely cast as Ice. I don't know what to add after Jilt and Frostburn Weird. Open to suggestions!
Sign in Blood is kinda outclassed by Night's Whisper, but both can be played, Skittering Skirge is a pure RB removal or control card and Dauthi Slayer is problematic on curve like the flyers and you probably want Dauthi Horror instead. all 3 are cutable for Scroundrel.
Keep in mind that I consider my T1 pretty much purely dedicated to the highest powerlevel while some of the others went more towards archetype/gameplay. There is not only one way to approach it though. You defintely want to playtest some of the cards you were cutting now or reconsider them later down the road
EDIT:
So, i decided to move some cards around. Carnophage and Vamp went to T2. Although Id consider them as staples theyre misplaced in my control black and I cant recall when I last saw them played. Black is a splash color for aggrodecks, so higher CC aggrocards are fine, but its unlikely you hit B on T1. But I moved Snuffout back in, so it can help aggrodecks that splash for B. Therefore I added the Scoundrel to my T2 as well and I wonder how those change effect the cube. Getting access to 3 one drops is a big push for my black aggro there.
What's up with Coiling Oracle? Is there a better card for a Simic slot? Not even necessarily better, but just more interesting. These 2 mana 1/1's that do nothing but replace themselves aren't very useful or exciting. Instead of playing a card like this and hoping to draw a good card with it, I could instead just have more copies of that good card and draw it directly.
I'm too used to MBC in Pauper where people play Dusk Legion Zealot and Phyrexian Rager without ways to bounce and replay them so all they do is bog you down.
I suppose in limited the extra body is actually worth the paywall.
My 3 Simic cards are Coiled Oracle, Temporal Spring, and Snakeform. I was thinking Winged Coatl or the 5 mana Manafest top 2 one for the memes. Winged Coatl is essentially a removal spell like Ambush Viper or could potentially be good Voltron creature with Elephant Guide.
I like Ethereal Ambush, especially since you're running a little long on Morphs and the card gets notably better (and more interesting) if you have Morph support. I don't like Coiling Oracle really at all- I think its popularity is a testament to balanced gold sections, and we all know how I feel about those.
Speaking of weird color counting, I want to see if Hybrids can fill any of the holes in my Cube. The specific card that I am thinking about is Safehold Elite as a two drop that is one half of a Green card and one half of a White card. I feel like White would definitely run it, Green might, and BG or BW might for sacrifice synergy? (Although I don't like it with Soulstinger. More generally, are there hybrids that feel good enough to you if they weren't competing for gold slots, but basically artifact slots? Here are some of the ones on my radar:
Cultbrand Cinder- Worse than Pith Driller, but by how much? Pith Driller is really good... Barkshell Blessing- a decent trick in two colors that like tricks. I keep on trying to sneak in a +2/+2 for W: Maybe this is the answer? Dimir Guildmage- Honestly, the only thing holding this back is whether it's closer to Hybrid or Gold. Shielding Plax- I'm not loving some of my aura inclusions, but is this card OK? Piston-Fist Cyclops- I have this nagging suspicion that this just ends up playing as a Gold card, in which case it's not good enough. Pitiless Gorgon- You all seem to like Deathtouch more than I do, so this is mostly to see where you all would rank this sort of body. Whisper Agent- Another set of stats that I feel lower on than you all, but how much better is this than a bad removal spell? Senate Griffin- This doesn't actually fill any holes, my curve is probably a touch too high, and it seems fragile. BUT IF NONE OF THOSE THINGS WERE TRUE, a 3/2 for 4 with evasion and some deck manipulation- good enough?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My 450 Card Pauper Cube is going through major renovations. Feedback appreciated!
Whisper Agent- Another set of stats that I feel lower on than you all, but how much better is this than a bad removal spell?
Its a nice variation for black as a kill spell that isn't exactly a kill spell. I hope that they distinguish flash in black and blue by putting it more on fliers for blue so they function better as sneak attackers while blacks are more themed like Mack the Knife (a la Hired Blade who seems like it really wanted to be called Hired Knife).
In general its going to be worse than elsewhere in Cube for the same reason that deathtouch is more popular -- you need to kill buffed attackers that are difficult to interact with outside of combat
Safehold Elite sees play in my cube even though the superior rendclaw trow is in the cube too. I think I even got to draft both once.
frostburn weird is a solid inclusion in any blue or red deck.
They're solid, all around cards. Barkshell blessing is a cool card and would work with Squirrels or Saprolings or white tokens.
Gift of Orzhova was drawing some complaints about how OP it was in my cube. I don't agree, but I found Harvest Gwyllion in my LGS's 25 cent bulk foil box and replace it with that. I find it to be more interesting.
I like the idea of not counting hybrid mana cards as gold cards and instead counting them as their individual colors since they're playable in mono-colored decks.
I also think Delver is kinda bad, but its fail case is a bit better (and it helps that it's a little more iconic). Honestly, I kind of want to make Augur work for me- it just feels so good when it works. It's just not that often.
Those are good sacrifice suggestions, thank you! I think the big question mark for me is what the best sacrificers are and if they feel too out-of-place when drafted with the rest of the Cube, and how many was appropriate. Narrowing it to Husk, which I think there are 4 variants of, helps a lot.
Commanders:
Toshiro Umezawa
Rona, Disciple of Gix (Pauper)
Al's cube has a sacrifice theme – worth a look! http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/35213
Hahah, thank you so much for posting that list.
Some general questions to get the conversation started:
Questions about specific cards:Multicolor support: The cube has bounce-lands and signets. In people's experience, is that enough support for two-color decks, or should I add Khans lands? (The cube has an average CMC of 2.7, so I thought having a land enter tapped can be an issue.)added landGeneral build: Besides the bounce-lands and signets, it has 5 other lands, 15 artifacts, 3 cards per guild, and 58 cards per color. Would you change that build? If I were to cut 1 or 2 cards per color, what categories would you replace them with (land, artifact, guild)?added landRemoval: I might have too much removal (the way I count it, I have 82 cards or an as-fan of 3.4, whereas some favourite sets (Innistrad, KTK, RTR) have an as-fan of at most 2.7, which would be 64 cards.) Is it too much? If so, what 18 cards would replace the worst removal?all goodHexproof: Without originally intending to support it, I added light support for the hexproof archetype. Are there enough deathtouch creatures and "sacrifice" spells to respond to it?all goodCurve: I think the curve is fine (note that I haven't edited CubeTutor to use the "real" cost of cards with Phyrexian mana, Affinity, Ninjutsu, etc.), but let me know if not!all good
Potential cuts: The following cards appear in only one other powered cube, but I included them. If you think any are a bad pick, what would you add instead?How do people feel about Desert? The cube has no land destruction, but I don't think it's so powered that it needs an answer.kept DesertLeonin Skyhunter / Silverbeak Griffin versus Mistral Charger / Stormfront Pegasus? (higher toughness vs. fewer mana symbols?)swapped cardsWithout intending to, I have about 20 white Soldier/Knight creatures. Is that enough to include War Falcon and Veteran Swordsmith?removed Falcon- A Sentinel Dispatch: control
- A Cobbled Wings: evasion
- B Hand of Silumgar
- B Sign in Blood: seems as good as Night's Whisper
- R Goblin Cohort, Mogg Conscripts: aggro
- R Keldon Berserker,
- R Lash Out
- U Kitesail Corsair is in no other powered cube, but seems comparable to Welkin Tern, which is in 3/8 cubes
- W Benalish Cavalry
- RU Razorfin Hunter: seems as good as Fireslinger
- BG Canker Abomination
Potential additions: The following cards appear in at least 5 powered cubes, but I didn't include them. If you think any should be added, what would you remove?B Dross GolemG Predator's Strike, R Run Amok: trampleKeldon Raider, Sprinting Warbrute: few good 4CC red creaturesU Deprive is in no other powered cubeW Akrasan Squire, Aven SquireW Leonin Skyhunter, Silverbeak Griffin: see question aboveW Veteran Swordsmith: see question above- A Ulamog's Crusher (5/8 cubes) cost seems too high to be relevant
- B Carrion Feeder (6/8 cubes) can't block, and seems to need archetype support
- R Mogg War Marshal (6/8 cubes) two 1/1s for 2CC or three 1/1s (eventually) for 4CC seems borderline
- R Ghirapur Gearcrafter (5/8 cubes) a worse Sandsteppe Outcast
- R Beetleback Chief (5/8 cubes) a 2/2 and two 1/1s for 4CC seems uninteresting
- U Repulse (5/8 cubes) Unsummon U as a cantrip doesn't seem worth 3CC
- U Into the Roil (5/8 cubes) Disperse 1U as a cantrip doesn't seem worth 4CC
- W Kor Hookmaster (5/8 cubes) Master of Diversion seems better
- BW Pillory of the Sleepless (6/8 cubes) removal for 3CC seems over-cost in black
Other potential cuts: Here's a longer list of cards that appear in only two other powered cubes.B Grasping Scoundrel (5/8 cubes) 2/1 on attack only seems borderlineB Dauthi Marauder (5/8 cubes) X/1s seem borderline at 3CCB Snuff Out (7/8 cubes) removal for 4CC or 4 life seems over-costW Stormfront Pegasus (5/8 cubes) see question aboveW Oketra's Avenger (5/8 cubes)W Sandsteppe Outcast (7/8 cubes) either a 2/1 and a 1/1 Flying or a 3/2 for 3CC seems uninterestingB Dauthi SlayerB Skittering SkirgeB Skittering HorrorB DivestB ParalyzeB VendettaG Silhana LedgewalkerU ConfoundW War FalconW Cho-Manno's BlessingGood question. Is going wide with 1/1s strong enough on its own, or would I need to add more support for tokens (instants like the included Rally the Peasants, or enchantments that are anthems, etc.)? I can see the 1/1 Flying tokens as easier to include without support.
It's just okay. All it does is ping a Bird token every once and a while. I haven't had any issue with it being particularly dominant or unfun and it's a card I don't normally get to play with because it's not actually Pauper legal so it's fresh and exciting to me. If I had more 1/1's in my cube Desert and Oasis would be better picks.
Hexproof is cancer. I thought that Shroud was fixed Hexproof and was genuinely surprised that Wizards considers Hexproof to be fixed Shroud and stopped printing Shroud cards. I feel like the whole purpose of a cube is to play interactive Magic, which Hexproof explicitly prevents.
------------------------
Is Ebony Horse too cheesy? Here is my cube list if context is relevant. http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/129072
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.
Second, it seems like a lot of the decisions you're making for your cube gently push players towards mono or mostly colored play. My examples there would be the relatively low amount of fixing (I personally support adding the Khans lands because I think most Cubes should run more fixing than they do, but this might be a difference between 450 and 360) and your various questions that appear to favor stronger color commitment. In my mind, the difference between Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood are night and day, because Night's Whisper can go in most decks that have Black while Sign pushes much more towards mono or mostly black. I don't think this is a problem at all, but I think it's a preference that comes through and that is worth acknowledging. I think this becomes more and more of a problem the earlier a desirable play happens. For instance, Leonin Skyhunter wants to come down on Turn 2. This is much, much harder at WW than it is at 1W, unless your deck is mono- or mostly White.
I think you're probably running too much removal, because that's just kind of the curse of Pauper cube. I'm in the glassest house and can't throw stones there! I think in general, if you're considering cutting a removal spell, you probably just should- by that logic, I strongly support cutting Lash Out and most of the other removal on your list of potential cuts. With that said, I also do think the more removal-heavy environment is one of Pauper Cube's charms (my Commander is Toshiro Umezawa, I like killing creatures), so a higher-than-normal AS-FAN is probably OK and even desirable.
And SaltMaster, I think Ebony Horse is kind of neat. It's kind of a counter for interaction- if you make a block that you realize you regret, you can just pretend that you didn't do it. I think there's seem neat possible play there, although it may run counter to the feel that you're going for.
Commanders:
Toshiro Umezawa
Rona, Disciple of Gix (Pauper)
Multicolor: I've been happy with 2 nonbasics per color. Tapped lands are not that much of an issue, but trying to support more than 2 colors without fixing surely is. The gain lands also have something, that differentiates them from the other lands.
General build: I would simply add more lands.
Removal: I think your removal Count is fine.
Hexproof: My impression was, that not all decks actually need to answer hexproof. Hexproof creatures are below curve and you can beat them by playing more mana efficient creatures and simply race them. Especially the Swarm decks have shown to be crushing the aura/hexproof decks pretty hard.
Desert is really strong, but there are ways around like either trying not to play too many X/1s or going so wide with tokens, that killing one of them doesn't matter.
Charger/Pegasus are way better than the WW guys. There is simply no way to guarantee WW on turn two and the value loss of not being able to play them on turn 2, especially in a low land aggro deck, is a huge downside.
The problem with the soldiers is, that only about half of your creatures are white, which means, that unless you specifically focus on picking them there are only about 1/4 soldiers, which is not enough, IMO.
Run Amok: Red doesn't need, nor want combat tricks, IMO. There is a huge amount of playable burn spells, that are mostly superior, IMO.
Keldon Raider/Keldon Berserker: I don't think red aggressive decks need 4 drops and I would rather play more powerful cards, rather than mediocre ones.
Lash Out is certainly playable, but I think there are better options. The aggressive red decks that are interested in this usually have a low curve so you usually only win if you have a spell and your opponent has a land, because your spell will often cost less than theirs.
Deprive is a card I've played for a long time, but control decks really don't want to miss land drops and the downside simply hurts them too much. The XU counters are usually just better.
I don't like the Exalted creatures, because they are really bad when you don't want to attack with just one creature. They also work really badly with my Swarm theme.
Razorfin Hunter would obviously be good as a monocolored card, but Fire // Ice is just more powerful.
Grasping Scoundrel is basically a black Jungle Lion, which is still a fine card, but green simply has way more powerful options nowadays, while black has by far the weakest creatures. Compared to the average powerlevel of black creatures it's a good 1-drop. Other than the Lion it can also block X/1s. You can cut Divest for it. Divest only most likely only deals with creatures, which is a card type black has problems dealing with anyway. Different than removal discard is a terrible topdeck against a hellbent opponent.
Dauthi Marauder: The toughness doesn't really matter, since it doesn't interact in combat, but 3 unblockable power for 3 mana is a great deal and makes this actually way better in the offense than something like Shu Cavalry. Being fragile and kind of all in is ok for a hyper aggressive black card. You can cut Skittering Horror is an easy cut, IMO.
Snuff Out: Compare this to Dismember, which is a very powerful removal. The difference is, that Snuff Out costs 1 less and kills a creature regardless of size. Skittering Skirge or Paralyze are easy cuts, IMO.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
I just removed Leonin Skyhunter for the same reasons. IMO, this + Silverbeak Griffin should really only be run if you already run both Pegasi + Soltari Trooper and need more evasion. This would probably only be for larger cubes at this point. If we eventually get a common white devotion card on the same level as Gray Merchant of Asphodel, these guys could get a new lease on life. But I feel safe in saying that, for 360 to 450 at least, they're pretty much dead.
RE: red pump - pretty much only if you want to deliberately kneecap red at this point. There's too much burn to really want to play a more restrictive removal that occasionally doubles as creature protection.
Deprive I like as a landfall enabler and for larger cubes like mine, but even there blue spells are stacked. I'm ok with countermagic having a slight premium attached to it by having a bit less of it. (y'all might find this weird, but I find the trinket text on Rune Snag in a singleton format really cumbersome, and if I had to add another countermagic slot, Quench would be in serious contention against Deprive).
Also fun to see someone else try to be slightly more statistical about their inclusions. I've done the exact same notation for how many cubes run which cards, yet somehow I'm still over the limit because cuts are hard lol.
As for other cuts:
Paralyze! Soft removal in a color full of hard removal.
Everything else in that list of potential cuts I like too much to recommend cuts. You can take a look at my list in my sig and see which ones I don't run if that helps your decision-making
Anyway, this will be my last post for the foreseeable future. I'll be going on hiatus from the forums for many reasons, mainly for my mental health, diminishing returns from discussion here, and now the Great Deletion of 2019 that just invalidated years (decades?) of work.
Cheers, and happy cubing!
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
Running 2 sets of duals (bounce and lifelands) is pretty much the standard. I only run 1 set and the signets, because tapped lands are pretty bad in aggro and there are quite a few cards that care for basic lands. Kird Ape, Fireblast and so on
Hexproof: My impression was, that not all decks actually need to answer hexproof. Hexproof creatures are below curve and you can beat them by playing more mana efficient creatures and simply race them. Especially the Swarm decks have shown to be crushing the aura/hexproof decks pretty hard.
Depends on the amount of hexproof. First turn Bogle into 2 turn Winds is above curve and will race you. If you only run the finisher like Benthic Giant I agree.
Desert is really strong, but there are ways around like either trying not to play too many X/1s or going so wide with tokens, that killing one of them doesn't matter.
Desert is pretty bonkers and is one of the cards that warps the whole meta. In addition with some other x/1 hoser like Serrated Arrows it renders a lot of those pretty weak. Its funny to hear its not pauper legal, because we are playing paper here and I consider the online commons not being legal.
Charger/Pegasus are way better than the WW guys. There is simply no way to guarantee WW on turn two and the value loss of not being able to play them on turn 2, especially in a low land aggro deck, is a huge downside.
Which ones are better is determined by the question how many x/1 answers your cube run. See above. With some amount of pinger in my cube, the 2/2s are much better and monowhite is usually the best way to build the aggro deck anyway.
The problem with the soldiers is, that only about half of your creatures are white, which means, that unless you specifically focus on picking them there are only about 1/4 soldiers, which is not enough, IMO.
I run them since I support mono/heavy white and a lot of them are soldiers. 3/2 for 3 is not the worst aggrocard anyway and the falcon usually dont need a build around, because basically everything is either knight or soldier.
Run Amok: Red doesn't need, nor want combat tricks, IMO. There is a huge amount of playable burn spells, that are mostly superior, IMO.
I run it, because combat tricks are much stronger in aggrodecks than burn. Especially if they give trample. Burn is too slow and too reactive. Attacking all in every turn and trample through any blocker will deal more damage faster and also kills stuff that has higher toughness. It can also save you guy from removal. Its probably only an inclusion if you want to support turbo aggro.
Keldon Raider/Keldon Berserker: I don't think red aggressive decks need 4 drops and I would rather play more powerful cards, rather than mediocre ones.
I dont think CC4 for a 5/3 is mediocre. Its pretty much as good as it gets, besides Gorehorn Minotaurs. It doesnt usually hurt to have some curve topper. The problem comes with double R, since thats often a problem in fast decks. Thats why although I think the Raider are also better than mediocre theyre better played with some additional synergies like madness.
Lash Out is certainly playable, but I think there are better options. The aggressive red decks that are interested in this usually have a low curve so you usually only win if you have a spell and your opponent has a land, because your spell will often cost less than theirs.
Considering the average deck runs 17 lands and aggro 15-16 I didnt made the math on it, but it burns for additional 3 often enough to make it a fantastic card. Its also a burnspell with a twist, so more interesting than the next plain bolt and often enough you want to kill a creature anyway. Definitely better than Volcanic Hammer
Deprive is a card I've played for a long time, but control decks really don't want to miss land drops and the downside simply hurts them too much. The XU counters are usually just better.
yeah, pretty meh card
I don't like the Exalted creatures, because they are really bad when you don't want to attack with just one creature. They also work really badly with my Swarm theme.
Exalted is pretty bonkers but indeed, you either want exalted or swarm. Exalted has the strong upside that it allows you to attack into blockers that would usually roadblock (Augur of Bolas anyone ;))
Razorfin Hunter would obviously be good as a monocolored card, but Fire // Ice is just more powerful.
If red wouldnt have Fireslinger already Id consider running it. As is Izzet can do more with spells.
Grasping Scoundrel is basically a black Jungle Lion, which is still a fine card, but green simply has way more powerful options nowadays, while black has by far the weakest creatures. Compared to the average powerlevel of black creatures it's a good 1-drop. Other than the Lion it can also block X/1s. You can cut Divest for it. Divest only most likely only deals with creatures, which is a card type black has problems dealing with anyway. Different than removal discard is a terrible topdeck against a hellbent opponent.
not a big fan. x/1 *coughs* A fine addition for a black aggro archetype though
Dauthi Marauder: The toughness doesn't really matter, since it doesn't interact in combat, but 3 unblockable power for 3 mana is a great deal and makes this actually way better in the offense than something like Shu Cavalry. Being fragile and kind of all in is ok for a hyper aggressive black card. You can cut Skittering Horror is an easy cut, IMO.
x/1, but races quite fast if unchecked. Probably one of the cards that demand a certain amount of x/1 hosers to not be broken. Skittering Horror is a RB removal.dec card
Snuff Out: Compare this to Dismember, which is a very powerful removal. The difference is, that Snuff Out costs 1 less and kills a creature regardless of size. Skittering Skirge or Paralyze are easy cuts, IMO.
I did run Snuff for a while and it turned out to be a horrible card in my T1. Against aggro its either too slow to cast or doesnt help at all because you burn yourself for 4. Its better in aggro to remove a blocker for free, so basically it comes back to black aggro support or not. I dedicated my Black mostly to control, because its the only color able to and has all the roleplayer with pestilence and so on. No need to turn every color into aggro WRG are better for it anyway.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
It makes drafting early on a little easier because you can choose from 3 colors. I've noticed they don't sit in packs as long as bounce lands for colors no one is in.
And what are the thoughts on including some of the 10 banned Pauper cards? I like novelty cards, and banned cards are a novelty.
Cloud of Fairies and Peregrine Drake are reasonable cards, especially in my cube since I don't play Ghostly Flicker.
Frantic Search and Treasure Cruise are good cantrips.
I put Empty the Warren in for Goblins. Too much?
Invigorate seems reasonable without any Hexproof creatures in my cube. I only have one Infect creature too.
I don't have too many artifacts, so I feel Cranial Plating is reasonable.
Is Temporal Fissure too unfun? Blue has a bunch of freebie spells and cantrips, so I didn't include it because it could get out of hand.
Burn in my cube seems just fine as-is, so I don't think Grapeshot is a good idea.
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.
That said, pretty much all those cards are only strong in either constructed or with the right amount of support. Since you dont support them and anyways have you own definition of fun its pretty much useless to comment on them.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
None of the banned cards are in any way too good for cube. They are only banned because their constructive archetype was too good. Go ahead and run them.
Cloud of Fairies is only Ok.
Peregrine Drake is a really nice control card. It's way better than something like Sentinels of Glen Elendra for that matter, because you can just slam it, no matter if you counter something or not.
Frantic Search is not a good card on it's own. It's one of the most broken combo enabler in pauper, but without any combos to enable it's just worse than Faithless Looting.
Treasure Cruise is strong, but fair. You simply don't have that many enablers or Fetches to abuse Delve.
Humphrey plays Empty the Warrens and Invigorate
Cranial Plating is usually not worth it.
Temporal Fissure and Grapeshot are horrible, unless you actively try to support Storm.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
It feels so bad to cast it just for the body, Id never run it for itself.
Cloud of Faeries also does nothing. The card is worth a spirit token.
ETW is fine as soon as you get another spell down the turn and becomes quite impressive with 2 spells which is relatively easy. Its more of a midrange/control finisher than an aggrocard.
Invigorate looks nice on paper. Counter a toughness based removal for free. In reality I see it more often just cast for 3, which is okayish, but there would be better cards. Ill replace it at one point for sure. Green anyway is my most volatile color, not quite sure what to do with it. Turboaggro shifted way deeper into red, Ramp usually lacks value, Fatties are too fragile and pushing for all hexproof doesnt make it much better. It doesnt have good spells besides Sprout Swarm, no real removal.. The color is just too fair.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Grapeshot for similar reasons. I already gave them Goblin Grenade which is pushing it, but I can imagine a red player sitting on all his burn spells and getting a ton of extra value off Grapeshot. Or drafting both Empty the Warrens and Grapeshot and going to town.
Filling the graveyard for delve even without cards dedicated to that purpose isn't very difficult and you can cast it a few turns in. I don't have a whole lot of issue with cantrips/card draw being OP because ultimately it doesn't matter unless you draw powerful cards with them. They're just the support for potential shenanigans, not the shenanigans themselves.
Invigorate I see as sort of fair. Early game you can make a wumbo creature and surprise your opponent and get ahead on board. I considered Monstrify too.
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.
Fissure can kinda work, but usually is just worse than any of the spells that can bounce 2 things. But how can one be so opposed to the Drake combo but wants to support storm. Storm pretty much is the epitome of non-interactive anti-magic.
To Grapeshot become better than Volcanic Hammer, you already had to cast another 2 spells this turn. You you jump through some hoops for 4 damage and had to play suboptimal.
Treasure Cruise is pretty strong, but doesnt do as much as it does in constructed, basically because you only run one anyway and the decks are far more random.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
In a similar vein, but not as much, I think Storm in general seems like a bad fit for your interests. Grapeshot is probably the most interesting, since it can create a one-sided wrath but you have to really work for it, but they are not all that strong in Cube and when they are strong they are usually pretty busted and not particularly fun. However, both provide more opportunity for interaction than Fissure.
I run Peregrine Drake without the combo, although I am kind of considering adding the combo as well. I like it- without the combo, it's a decent creature that works with control strategies (which it seems might be a good fit for you). Similarly, I think Invigorate without Infect is a really good fit for your interests- an off-beat form of interaction that creates interesting game play.
Frantic Search is bad because it's basically a cantrip, but one that produces card disadvantage unless you have serious graveyard or discard synergies. It's pretty great in Ultimate Masters, a set that I really enjoy playing, so if you enjoy UMA drafts and feel like your Cube has a lot of similar synergies (or you want more), it's a fine inclusion. It definitely has a problem, though, where in order for it to be good, it tends to be pretty busted and unfun. So it might take more development work to support than you're looking for.
Treasure Cruise is one of my favorite cards ever printed. I strongly, strongly support its inclusion. It's not only powerful, it feels so good to cast it. It doesn't even have a corresponding feels-bad for your opponent.
Plating is mostly just not worth it. It's not particularly fun or strong unless you warp your Cube to support it. At its best, it's good because it makes it impossible for your opponent to block its damage. Given how similar creature size is in Cube, and the relatively low number of artifacts, it's closer to just forcing your opponent to make some blocks they might not otherwise make. If you like artifact synergy, though, it's fine, and hard to make busted.
Commanders:
Toshiro Umezawa
Rona, Disciple of Gix (Pauper)
Either it's a mediocre or even dead card, or you actually drafted enough of the pieces for it and it's not interactive. Either way it's not fun.
Cranial Plating I figured would just be another copy of Bone Splitter. Since I have Razor, Spire, Tangle, and Dross Golem along with Porcelain Legionnaire and Vault Skirge and Pith Driller and Flayer Husk and Sickleslicer, it shouldn't be too hard to make it +2 or +3. Sometimes Bonesplitter or Flayer Husk or Guardian Idol or even Vault Skirge are mid-late pack picks so this might make artifacts more desirable.
Peregrine Drake is basically just Spire Golem except a little less color restrictive. It's a solid pick even without Flicker and it doesn't stay in a pack for very long if someone is in blue. When I played the bounce lands it would often cost negative mana.
Cloud of Faeries I agree is just meh without Flicker. I took it out but if I had Faerie tribal I'd put it back in. It's okay.
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.
Divest, Paralyze, Predator's Strike, Silhana Ledgewalker, Run Amok, Keldon Raider, Deprive, Confound, War Falcon, Akrasan Squire < 10 KTK lands
Leonin Skyhunter, Silverbeak Griffin < Mistral Charger, Stormfront Pegasus
Skittering Horror < Dauthi Marauder
Vendetta < Snuff Out
Aven Squire < Oketra's Avenger
Veteran Swordsmith < Sandsteppe Outcast
If the added X/1s turn out to be too fragile, I'll reconsider.
After the above, I'm not sure what to cut to make room for Grasping Scoundrel. Which of the following is worst: Sign in Blood, Skittering Skirge, Dauthi Slayer, Hand of Silumgar, Slum Reaper or Dross Golem?
I'm open to cutting more cards that were mentioned (Lash Out, Keldon Berserker, or any other cards people don't think contribute to a powered cube), but I'm not sure what to replace them with.
I have Fire // Ice in my red section, because in my UMA experience it's rarely cast as Ice. I don't know what to add after Jilt and Frostburn Weird. Open to suggestions!
Keep in mind that I consider my T1 pretty much purely dedicated to the highest powerlevel while some of the others went more towards archetype/gameplay. There is not only one way to approach it though. You defintely want to playtest some of the cards you were cutting now or reconsider them later down the road
EDIT:
So, i decided to move some cards around. Carnophage and Vamp went to T2. Although Id consider them as staples theyre misplaced in my control black and I cant recall when I last saw them played. Black is a splash color for aggrodecks, so higher CC aggrocards are fine, but its unlikely you hit B on T1. But I moved Snuffout back in, so it can help aggrodecks that splash for B. Therefore I added the Scoundrel to my T2 as well and I wonder how those change effect the cube. Getting access to 3 one drops is a big push for my black aggro there.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I'm too used to MBC in Pauper where people play Dusk Legion Zealot and Phyrexian Rager without ways to bounce and replay them so all they do is bog you down.
I suppose in limited the extra body is actually worth the paywall.
My 3 Simic cards are Coiled Oracle, Temporal Spring, and Snakeform. I was thinking Winged Coatl or the 5 mana Manafest top 2 one for the memes. Winged Coatl is essentially a removal spell like Ambush Viper or could potentially be good Voltron creature with Elephant Guide.
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.
Speaking of weird color counting, I want to see if Hybrids can fill any of the holes in my Cube. The specific card that I am thinking about is Safehold Elite as a two drop that is one half of a Green card and one half of a White card. I feel like White would definitely run it, Green might, and BG or BW might for sacrifice synergy? (Although I don't like it with Soulstinger. More generally, are there hybrids that feel good enough to you if they weren't competing for gold slots, but basically artifact slots? Here are some of the ones on my radar:
Cultbrand Cinder- Worse than Pith Driller, but by how much? Pith Driller is really good...
Barkshell Blessing- a decent trick in two colors that like tricks. I keep on trying to sneak in a +2/+2 for W: Maybe this is the answer?
Dimir Guildmage- Honestly, the only thing holding this back is whether it's closer to Hybrid or Gold.
Shielding Plax- I'm not loving some of my aura inclusions, but is this card OK?
Piston-Fist Cyclops- I have this nagging suspicion that this just ends up playing as a Gold card, in which case it's not good enough.
Pitiless Gorgon- You all seem to like Deathtouch more than I do, so this is mostly to see where you all would rank this sort of body.
Whisper Agent- Another set of stats that I feel lower on than you all, but how much better is this than a bad removal spell?
Senate Griffin- This doesn't actually fill any holes, my curve is probably a touch too high, and it seems fragile. BUT IF NONE OF THOSE THINGS WERE TRUE, a 3/2 for 4 with evasion and some deck manipulation- good enough?
Commanders:
Toshiro Umezawa
Rona, Disciple of Gix (Pauper)
Its a nice variation for black as a kill spell that isn't exactly a kill spell. I hope that they distinguish flash in black and blue by putting it more on fliers for blue so they function better as sneak attackers while blacks are more themed like Mack the Knife (a la Hired Blade who seems like it really wanted to be called Hired Knife).
In general its going to be worse than elsewhere in Cube for the same reason that deathtouch is more popular -- you need to kill buffed attackers that are difficult to interact with outside of combat
frostburn weird is a solid inclusion in any blue or red deck.
They're solid, all around cards. Barkshell blessing is a cool card and would work with Squirrels or Saprolings or white tokens.
Gift of Orzhova was drawing some complaints about how OP it was in my cube. I don't agree, but I found Harvest Gwyllion in my LGS's 25 cent bulk foil box and replace it with that. I find it to be more interesting.
I like the idea of not counting hybrid mana cards as gold cards and instead counting them as their individual colors since they're playable in mono-colored decks.
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.